'I redesigned this space to suit our family's lifestyle'

With the whole family preferring showers to baths, Antonia Richards prioritised space for a luxuriously large shower cubicle, squeezing in a petite tub as well

-  Lisa Moses

After a long property search, Antonia Richards and her husband Carl were so keen on this house that they put an offer in before they had even got home after the viewing. ‘We had looked at numerous houses before settling on this one,’ says Antonia, who quickly saw this house’s potential to become a beautiful family home, even though it needed some work. ‘After moving in, the first room we tackled was the bathroom, as it was originally divided into two rooms,’ Antonia explains. ‘We had to go out of the toilet and into the bathroom next door to wash our hands, which didn’t work if someone was using the shower.’

Antonia admits that she made some mistakes when renovating her previous home, so she decided to take her time with this house to make sure she made the right decisions – which meant it was eight months before she finally felt ready to tackle the bathroom renovation.

STEP INSIDE...

WHO LIVES HERE? Antonia Richards (@all_things_interior_), 39, an occupational therapist, my husband, Carl Curtis, 39, a physiotherapist, and our two children, Isaac, 17, and Georgia, 12. Our home is a 1950s, threebedroom, detached house in Heald Green, Greater Manchester, and we bought it in August 2021.
WHAT WAS UPDATED? We knocked through two rooms for more space, and added a large shower and compact bath.
WHY THE CHANGE? The toilet was in a separate room, and the shower was above the bath, whereas we wanted a separate shower.
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE? After the wall was knocked down the work took two weeks, as the room was taken back to brick and rebuilt.
TOTAL COST £3,237